You do have to wonder about the calibre of some of our MEPs. Last night the LibDems’ man in Brussels representing the north-west Chris Davies launched a stinging tirade against UKIP, backing Rotherham child-catcher Joyce Thacker’s defence of the decision to take away foster children from a UKIP couple last year. He had clearly been reading this weekend’s news:

In Strasbourg tonight I defended the Rotherham social workers who believed that UKIP was racist and took away foster children.

Now surely someone who is going to get on their high horse about racism would have to have a squeaky clean record on the subject? Not Chris Davies. Back in 2006 Davies was forced to resign after a series of inappropriate comments about that old chestnut, the “Jewish lobby”. According to a Guardian report from the time he was forced to apologise for comparing Israeli policy to the Holocaust and had to quit his post as leader of the LibDems in the European Parliament. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea for Davies to go through the Rotherham adoption process any time soon…

Quote of the Day

Dominic Raab wrote in his letter of resignation…

“This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” he told the PM, concluding: “I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election… I believe that the regulatory regime proposed for Northern Ireland presents a very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom. I cannot support an indefinite backstop arrangement, where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit…”